Endometriosis is a gynecological disease that afflicts women of child-bearing age. Although itself benign, it is a very painful, chronic, and inflammatory condition characterized by endometriotic lesions at ectopic sites and ovarian cysts leading to infertility and an increased risk of specific subtypes of ovarian cancer. Characteristic symptoms of endometriosis include chronic pelvic pain, pain during intercourse (dyspareunia), painful periods (dysmenorrhea), and infertility.
Endometriotic lesions are characterized by functional endometrial-like tissue (epithelial glands and stroma) outside of the uterus, particularly in the peritoneal area, affecting reproductive organs, the bladder and the intestinal tract. Endometriosis is the third leading cause of gynecologic hospitalization in the United States. Hospital surveys estimate that the prevalence of endometriosis among all pre-menopausal women is up to 10%, which equates to about 180 million affected women and adolescents worldwide.
Due to the severe pain, multiple surgeries, including hysterectomies, and the negative impact on the reproductive capacity, endometriosis substantially and negatively affects the quality of life of affected adolescents and women. The definitive causes of endometriosis are unclear. However, eutopic endometrium deposited into the peritoneal cavity via retrograde menstruation, is considered the source of cells that form endometriotic lesions. Development of therapeutic and strategies to diagnose, treat, mitigate, or eliminate the lesions and to relieve the pain, without interfering with the fertility potential, and prevention of further progression of this disease are greatly needed for these patients.